El Al Adds Service To Their 8th North American Destination! Roundup Of The 93 Weekly Nonstop Flights Between North America And Tel Aviv

El Al announced today that they will fly nonstop 787 service between Las Vegas and Tel Aviv starting 6/14/19. Curiously though, the service will only operate once per week. El Al’s other destinations feature service between 3 and 7 days a week. It can be hard to run a sustainable operation on a once weekly basis.

On the other hand, it is enough for El Al to qualify for a €250K grant to airlines launching a new destination from Tel Avlv.

The flight will depart Tel Aviv on Fridays at 7am and arrive at 11:15a. The return flight will depart Las Vegas on Saturdays at 11:45pm and arrive at 10:15pm on Sunday. The schedule allows El Al to utilize the Dreamliner when the company has slack available. However the sparse service means that travelers from Israel to Las Vegas will need to spend 2 Saturdays in Las Vegas for a 1 week trip.

Israel doesn’t have major casinos, so the flight can definitely have some appeal.

If the flights are successful, I’d imagine that they will move to at least 3 weekly flights.

But it’s hard to see this service lasting the test of time as its currently configured, so enjoy it while it lasts!

For those keeping score at home, that means that flights between North America and Tel Aviv next summer should look like:

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49 Comments On "El Al Adds Service To Their 8th North American Destination! Roundup Of The 93 Weekly Nonstop Flights Between North America And Tel Aviv"

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Jay

Freaking heck. Why in the world does this make sense over Chicago??!

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December 10, 2018 12:36 pm

eg

“The flight will depart Tel Aviv on Fridays at 7am and arrive at 11:15a. The return flight will depart Las Vegas on Saturdays at 11:45pm and arrive at 10:15pm on Sunday. The schedule allows El Al to utilize the Dreamliner when the company has slack available. ”

This almost guarantees that there will be no Shomer-Shabbos passengers booking this. So no complaints or problems when delays make it land just before Shabbos. They claim that they are targeting Christian tourism, hoping for tourists from Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Oregon. I would also guess that it’s cheaper to park a 787 over Shabbos in Las Vegas over keeping it in Chicago (which is also an airport more prone to weather delays).

As for the Casinos – I don’t see this as a major attraction. IINM there are closer and cheaper options for Israelis that want to go to a casino (Bulgaria).

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December 10, 2018 12:58 pm

Neil

Leaving aside all issues related to the post – who chooses Bulgaria over Las Vegas.

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December 10, 2018 2:36 pm

E

14-hour flight vs. 4?

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December 10, 2018 3:09 pm

Shulammis

Yes, counting the time difference

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December 11, 2018 5:45 am

Jake

Why are there direct flights to Vegas but not Chicago???

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December 10, 2018 12:39 pm

Moshe

I don’t think people realize but there is a larger Israeli community living on the west coast than the east coast. Additionally almost every Israeli touring the US has a stop in Las Vegas so why not just start there?

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December 10, 2018 1:04 pm

Jake

Neither LV nor Chicago are coastal cities

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December 10, 2018 2:05 pm

Moshe

LV is a four hour drive to LA. Being from LA I would rather drive to take the non stop to TLV from LV than take a short haul flight from LA to LV first.
Chicago and the rest of the Midwest might have sizable orthodox communities but pare very insignificant to the Israeli expats, businessmen, and tourists of the west coast

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December 10, 2018 4:30 pm

Shaul Yaakov Morrison

When is elal phasing the 747 out of JFK? I hear a different answer from every source.

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December 10, 2018 12:40 pm

SockEater

All of ElAl’s passenger 747’s will be taken out of service by early to mid 2020.

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December 10, 2018 1:28 pm

Shaul

Dan previously had an article saying they would be out of service in October, then I saw somewhere else by March after the winter season. Seems strange that the flagship route has the worst business class.

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December 10, 2018 3:41 pm

Yed

This means that this flight wouldn’t serve any connection destinations or origins for religious Jews, as it will arrive and depart to close to shabbos for that.

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December 10, 2018 12:42 pm

Doovid

There’s a very nice Jewish community in Las Vegas.

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December 10, 2018 2:03 pm

Jonny

They may be nice, but certainly not sizable.

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December 10, 2018 11:41 pm

reb yid

They could’ve struck a deal with the casinos. For example, Las Vegas used to subsidize AirTran flights.

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December 10, 2018 12:43 pm

EZ

I checked the calendar. Nope, today is not April Fool’s Day. This is pretty ridiculous. Like other’s have said, why not Chicago? Why not Mexico City (sizable Jewish population there)? Why not Houston, Dallas?

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December 10, 2018 12:44 pm

Moshe

See above discussion to jake. The east coasters truly have no idea of the extent of Israelis in LA, SF, and LV

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December 10, 2018 4:32 pm

Emes

Heck. I didn’t even know there were Jews outside of Brooklyn.

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December 10, 2018 7:51 pm

Moshe

Point proven

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December 10, 2018 8:44 pm

Harabi MiUto

Last Vegas is great for small- and medium-scale money laundering (you get a receipt for wins, but don’t have to prove how much you “invested,” so the ~97% win rate at Vegas is worth it to oligarchs and khaperim alike). This was a big part of the appeal of the Turkish casinos for a while.

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December 10, 2018 12:45 pm

Chicagoan

El Al is just trolling now. Next will be Green Bay

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December 10, 2018 12:51 pm

Frequent Flyer

Las Vegas has a huge Israeli population besides the fact of the appeal Las Vegas has for international tourists. Passengers can also drive 3 hrs to LA if they don’t wish to wait a week take a return flight

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December 10, 2018 12:52 pm

Sam

At least a 4 hour drive if all goes well. Usually longer.

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December 10, 2018 6:09 pm

Paula

Fly non stop to Chicago

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December 10, 2018 12:54 pm

Ruv

Newark: 14 weekly flights on United (777-200, 777-300),

*787

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December 10, 2018 12:56 pm

Yosef

I agree 1000% with the 1st two comments. I understand why they wont do Baltimore since United will now fly from DC. But this makes absolutely no sense compared to a Chicago route. Furthermore, a connecting flight between Vegas and LA/SF are very short/feasible vs Chicago (or even Dallas), who are stuck in central USA, and connecting flights are at least approx 3hrs in any direction (aside from flying via UK/Europe). This decision really makes no sense to me.

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December 10, 2018 12:58 pm

EZ

Yosef, I think United’s IAD to TLV will not be successfully and they will exit that airport at some point. United doesn’t have their hub in Baltimore (it is what it is), but BWI would make so much more sense than 30 miles Southwest of DC; deeper into Virginia. For United’s eastern seaboard connecting market, what’s wrong with keeping it as EWR?

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December 10, 2018 1:22 pm

R

Trade shows

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December 10, 2018 1:04 pm

S

You forgot ac to/from Montreal and Air Transat

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December 10, 2018 1:08 pm

Max

Air transat wont fly in 2019. They cancelled last week

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December 10, 2018 1:38 pm

dave

would rather have Philadelphia

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December 10, 2018 1:09 pm

Harabi MiUto

Small market, virtually no competition, drivable distance to EWR, so LY is unlikely to bother.

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December 10, 2018 1:17 pm

EZ

American Airlines somehow “loss money” in PHL to TLV, even though that was their hub for connecting flights.

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December 10, 2018 1:33 pm

a good yeshiva bachur

EWR will have a 787-10

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December 10, 2018 1:11 pm

EZ

What’s going to be next. Orlando to TLV? because people will fly in for the Parks and Amusements?

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December 10, 2018 1:35 pm

Doovid

With ElAl’s track record of late, I would be very hesitant to fly on this TLV-LAS flight!

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December 10, 2018 2:05 pm

Sam

I once flew United TLV-LAS with a connection in EWR. The first leg was delayed but I only had hand luggage so I made it to the connecting flight, the agent asked me if I was coming from TLV and when I said yes she said at least one of you made it, turns out there were about 40 passengers connecting. They ended up delaying the flight for the passengers from TLV.

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December 10, 2018 2:28 pm

Shaul

Obviously, the target audience isn’t frum people. It’s for Israeli tourists going to Vegas, and Christian groups. By running the flight on Friday’s and Saturday nights, they’re able to use only 1 plane that wouldn’t be in service anyway, and they can piggy back it with a route that they are already running 3x per week (MIA maybe).

They probably don’t have the aircraft to bring in a route into ORD 3x per week.

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December 10, 2018 3:48 pm

Ahmad Ali

Very very simple why this flight is a great idea. Israelis love Las Vegas, NYC, California and Miami. Most of them will not just fly in to stay in Las Vegas but rather visit other cities as well and probably do a multi city like fly into Vegas and back from NYC etc. Vegas has tons of Israelis living there and visiting.

Sounds like Sheldon Adelson got himself a nice ride. Also look for the LA connections after Shabbat and before Shabbat.

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December 10, 2018 10:56 pm

Zee

Sorry DAN

Elal’s evening flight EWR-TLV will be operating Sun-Thur with a 777-200

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December 11, 2018 11:42 am

Bob

Not a bad connection from Phoenix. Not to mention SLC, where even Jews are gentiles. And many inland California cities like Sacramento and Fresno, as an alternative to SFO and LAX. If the plane breaks down it’s a long wait for the next one – but at least it’s a newer plane.

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December 11, 2018 12:36 pm

Steve

Makes no sense to have the flight Las Vegas leave at 1145pm Motzei Shabbos when Shabbos ends at 845pm. It is not possible for any Shomer Shabbos Yid to make the flight.

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December 13, 2018 9:49 pm

gyfgyf

Las Vegas has a population of 145,000 Jews, according to the Las Vegas Israelite newspaper. 75,000 of them attend synagogues at least once a year.

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